


gone now are the old times

by sundermount



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Crimson Flower Route, Felix's Dimitri Issues (mild), Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:22:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25845763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sundermount/pseuds/sundermount
Summary: Felix has a conversation, pays an old friend a visit, and attends a wake.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	gone now are the old times

Edelgard seeks an audience with him the day after they defeat Rhea. 

They’ve never actually spoken to each other directly. Felix had not joined her cause for her; it was to improve his skill under Byleth, in the first place, and then—

No. It would be too late for regrets, now. The war is over. The Empire has won.

Dimitri is finally dead.

Edelgard’s face is solemn, and the feeling of dread bubbling in him intensifies. He’d had a suspicion about what her intentions were, and thinks he knows what is to come.

“Dimitri will be cremated tomorrow, before we move to deal with Those Who Slither in the Dark.”

He fights to not visibly react. “And why are you telling me this?”

“Do you not want to see him one last time?”

“No,” he snarls. “He lived and died a beast. The Dimitri I knew perished a long time ago, together with his father and my brother.”

“I have known him for less time than you have, and even I know that is a lie.” Her rejection of his denial is a claw sinking into his head, intent on ripping apart his peace of mind. “You have served my cause well, for which I am glad—but there is no need to pretend it was more than being unable to let go of a petty childhood squabble.”

Felix fidgets on the spot, allows his eyes to wander. He will not dwell on this now, not in front of anyone. “Why would I want to see him? What is it to you?”

He turns back to look at Edelgard when there is no immediate reply, and the sadness in her face stuns. He had not known she was capable of such emotion.

She speaks slowly, tasting her words. “He was to be your king, once. You lay the most claim to his corpse, and it would be your right to bury him—but as it is, we cannot allow that.”

Felix turns back to look at Edelgard. “Then why even seek me out?”

“As I said. Byleth wanted to offer you one last chance with him before we cremated his body.”

“You give him more respect than I would. A funeral fit for a king, when he would’ve had to be content with an unmarked grave from me.”

“A grave you would’ve dug yourself.”

He does not respond to that. She gives him one last assessing gaze—what she lacked in height, she made up for in steel and intimidation—and turns to leave. Then it is just him again, alone with his thoughts.

  


He slips into the dungeons later that night, each step feeling like he was once again sending himself to doom; even more so than when he’d faced up against people intent on killing him. He’d avoided it for as long as he could, paced and trained and fought anyone who was willing, and it still wasn’t enough to keep him away.

Hubert must have alerted the guards keeping watch over the body, for they immediately stand at attention and unlock the entrance to the room it—Dimitri was kept in.

Felix almost hesitates at the doorway, but presses on. He came here for a reason, and he will see it through.

The air in the room is frigid. Magic, to preserve and prevent corpse decay. His body trembles from the cold, as if it forgot what the harsh winters of Fhirdiad had taught it when he turned his back on his home.

Dimitri does not look right in death. It does not suit him.

“Fuck you,” he manages to say as he struggles for his teeth not to chatter. “Fuck you, Di—bo— _Dimitri_. Why am I even here? Why can I never be free of you, even in death?”

His words surprise him. He hadn’t thought he would have any; and if he did, that they would have allowed themselves to be spoken.

He does not know how long he stands next to Dimitri.

  


“Will you return to your lands to reclaim your title?” Hubert asks. The pyre burns hot, so much hotter than when the city was on fire. As though it intends to burn away the last of the winter chill and warm the earth for spring.

Spring was Dimitri’s favourite season. 

“Yes. There are many things that need to be seen to,” Felix replies. His shield is a heavy weight on his back; a responsibility he was never meant for, that he thought he’d long outrun. But as it is—there certainly exist issues to be solved, and the needs of his fiefdom to be seen to.

“I agree. The war may have been won, but the battle ahead to unify the continent is a long one. I am sure your people are relieved; solid governance would serve well to deter many would-be uprisings and skirmishes.”

Felix makes a non-committal sound in response. The lock of hair he’d cut from Dimitri’s head on impulse burns, tucked away in a pocket over his heart.

“Many, but not all of them.”

**Author's Note:**

> [some recommended listening](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNq4xox99HY)


End file.
